George d



M d 1. (No 0 e G. D. HAMILTON.

METAL FENCE. v

Patented May 8, 1894.

A TTORNEYS.

mi NATIONAL Ll'moalurnmp com-'Awr. WA are" a c.

I NITED STATES v PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE D. HAMILTON,

or INNISFAILJOANADA.

' METAL FENCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 519,573, dated May 8, 1894.

Applicationfiled June 12,1893. Serial No. 477.300- (No model.) i

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE D. HAMILTON, of lnnisfail, Alberta, Dominion of Canada,

' have invented a new and Improved Metal Fence, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in metalfences; and the object of my invention is to produce a cheap and substantial metal fence, which may be. easily constructed and put together, which is very durable, and which may be made as ornamental as desired.

To these ends my invention consists ofcertam features of construction and combinatlons of parts, as will be hereinafter described and claimed. y

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawlngs forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures Ofreference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a broken side elevation of a metal fence embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a broken side elevation of a slight modification of the fence. Fig. 3-illustrates another slight modification, in side elevation. Fig. 4 is a detail vertical section on the line 44 in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a sectional plan on the line 55 in Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a broken detail sectional View illustrating an ornamental head which may be placed upon the fence posts. Fig. 7 is asectional plan on the line 77 in Fig. 3; and Fig. 8 is a detail sectional view, illustrating the manner in which the fence rails are secured to the posts.

The fence is provided with suitable sup porting posts 10, which taper toward the top,

and the posts are made of a single piece of rolled metal, each post having a vertical seam I in one side formed by the meeting out-turned flanges 11, which are fastened together by suitable bolts or rivets 12. 1

v For ordinary cheap fences, the post is not provided with a head, but for ornamental fences it may be provided with anys'uitable kind of a head, an appropriate one being shown in Fig. 6 and at the left hand in Fig. 1, which head 13 is of a spherical shape and 1s provided with a shank 14, which fits in the top of the post and a horizontal flange 1,5,, which rests upon the top of the post. The shank 14. is firmlybolted to the post and thus the head is held in place.

The fence is. provided with suitable lower and upper rails 16 and 17, which are placed parallel-with each other in the usual way, so as to, support the remaining structure of the fence, and these rails have the same general characteristics of the posts 10, being of tubular form,and the lower rail has a single seam formed by its meeting flanges 18, these, being arranged on the upper side, While the upper rail has seams '19, on its upper and lower side to facilitate the attachment of pickets to it, as described presently. The ends of the rails 16and 17 are concave so that the sides of the rails may lie flat upon the posts, as shown at 20, and these projecting ends are fastened to the posts by bolts 21,

which may be of any suitable kind, and which are inserted-in keyhole slots 22 in the posts,

as clearly shown in Fig. 8.

If a picket fence is to be made, the pickets 23, are preferably employed, which pickets may be ornamented in any desired Way and are preferably provided with in-turned flanges 24, see Fig. 5, which adds greatly .to their strength and to the strength of the fence, but their form may be varied without departing from the principle of the invention. The pickets are firmly bolted to the seam of the lower rail 16, and to the seam on the under side of the rail 17. The picket tops 25 are ornamented and are in separate pieces which are bolted to the upper seam of the rail 17, the ornamental tops beingmade to align vertically with the body portions of the picket.

protectors are encircled by staples 28 which.

are thrust through holes 29 in the flanges 11 It will be seen that this structure makes a very simple and pretty fence, and 'that it is of the posts, and'are then twisted around the sleeves. This arrangement enables the wires to be very tightly fastenedand tohold them in such a way that there is no danger of their breaking at the points where they are secured.

Instead of the wires or pickets,the body of the fence may be formed by asuitable net:

ting 30, which may be of any usual kind,and the netting is fastened by bolting or otherwise securing its lower and upper edges to the seams of the rails 16 and 17.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a metal fence, the combination, with the tapered, tubular, metallic posts having keyhole slots, the hollow, metallic rails, 16 and 17, having concave ends whose side portions, or cars, are provided with perforations, and the fastening bolts, 21, inserted through the postsin said slots, as shown and described.

2. In a metal fence, thecombination, with the parallel rails, 16 17, having lengthwise flanges on their inner opposite sides, of the flanged pickets, 23, whose ends are bolted to the hollow fence-post, formed of a single metal plate, and tapered from the base upward, also having a projecting side seam formed by the out-turned, parallel and j uxtaposed edges of the said plate, as shown and described.

GEORGE D. HAMILTON. Witnesses:

OWEN P. THOMSON, JOHN J. MELLoN. 

